Weather across the nation: 10/17/12

A wet and very windy weather pattern gripped much of the central U.S. Wednesday afternoon as a storm system pushed into the Upper Midwest and the associated cold front reached from the Upper Mississippi Valley through the Southern Plains.

This system met with plenty of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, allowing areas of showers, periods of heavy rain, and thunderstorms to develop ahead of the advancing front through the afternoon.

Parts of the Mid- to Lower Mississippi Valleys remained at slight risk of severe thunderstorm activity from the mid-afternoon through the evening hours. Isolated large hail, damaging wind gusts, and a few tornadoes were possible with severe thunderstorm development in these areas.

Meanwhile, behind this system, very strong winds swept across areas from the Northern Rockies through the Northern Plains and southward through parts of the Central Plains and the Central High Plains as high pressure began to build into the Northwest and tightened the pressure gradient across the region.

These areas remained under various Wind Advisories and High Wind Watches and Warnings through the evening in anticipation of sustained northwesterly winds of 30 to 40 mph and winds gusting to 65 mph.

ON THIS DATE....... Small Hurricane King made landfall in Miami, Fla., on this date in 1950 with sustained winds of over 120 mph and gusts up to 150 mph. Forecasters initially though the hurricane's intensity had been overestimated, but the storm was so small that it missed key observation points throughout the Florida Straits.